“What kind of jobs are there in manufacturing besides operating machines?”

This question came in via one of the comments to our blog on a LinkedIn Group.

Well, we happen to think that building, designing, operating and maintaining machines is where the cool stuff really happens. And there are some machines that are really, really cool.

Operating this Zeiss Coordinate Measuring Machine is a cool job!

But that is a good question. Because there are a number of positions in manufacturing that are not necessarily 100% of the time operating equipment. And while many are managerial, many are not. Regardless, solid math, critical thinking, communication (verbal and written), and computer skills are essential to succeeding at any of these “No operator” positions:

Here is a list of jobs from our various surveys that are NOT 100% operating production machinery:

The fact is that manufacturing is not only about the machinery. MACHINING PROCESSES are where our industry really adds the value, but that value is added because of the contributions of the entire team- including the talents and passions of all of the above.

P.S. There are a bunch of jobs that we don’t have in our surveys yet- many dealing with PLC’s Automation, and Robotics…